mellen



UNrrE STATES Ari-:Nr erica..

DUSTIN F. MELLEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR NICKING SCREWS.

Specification forming part of Let-ters Patent No. 53,6118, dated April3, 1866; antedatcd March 21, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that l, D. F. MELLEN, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inScrew-Cutting Machinery, the purpose of which is to nick or slot theheads of screws; and I do hereby declare and ascertain my saidinvention, in which I refer to the accompanying drawings, as follows:

Figure l is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectionthereof. Fig. 3 is the directing` forceps p detached.

My improvement in machinery for :nicking or slotting screws is forthepurpose of expediting the process and forming a permanent andeffective machine that will accurately and properly cut the nicks withrapidity in the screw-heads, and be lasting, easily adjusted, and surein its operations.

The feed in this machine may be of any efficient description. That shownin the drawings consists 0f a hopper, a, such as is described in mymachine for shaving the heads ot'screwblanks; but instead of thedirecting-spout there is a straight verticaltube, b, the caliber ofwhich is a little larger than the screw-head. rlhe bottom of this tube bis open, and directly under it there are directing-forcepsp. (Showndetached at Fig. 3.) These forceps are kept closed bysprin gs q, Fig. 2.The upper face of the forceps are chamfered, so as to direct the pointof the screw-blank to the center, directly over the dies of theholding-clamps. These forceps insure the entrance ofthe point of theblank into the dies as it descends head uppermost into them through thetube b.

Theblankisfbrced downinto the dies through the forceps p by means of apiston, d, which is connected by an arm, e, with a rod,`c, which israised by pins c2 on the cam i on the camshaft g below. The screw-blank,after being fed into the die of the circular clamp, is moved onward byits revolution to the cutting-point.

The circular clamp cis composed of two disks, the faces of which, havinga series of radial dies in them, are a little inclined toward eachother. so as only to touch on one side, where the dies that contain theblank will there be brought together to gripe fast the blank that isbetween them at the point where the nick is cut. On the other side theyare open to relieve the blank. rlhe dies are revolved bymeans of aratchet, (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2,)

into which a pawl, c, works, that is on a vibrat ing lever, c', moved byacam below, as clearly seen in the drawings. A linger, o2, jointed tothe stationary frame, prevents the recoil of the clamps c beyond theproperpoint,\vliile a spring friction-clutch, to, on the shaft of theclamp causes it to recoil firmly against said linger o2 after the pawlrecedes, so as to insure the correct position of the dies when in astate of rest.

The clamps, per sc, are notnew, but only the mode of operating them.

Vhen the screw-blank isinserted in the dies, as above described, theclamps c revolve far enough to bring the next die into place under theforceps p, which have been forced open to let the preceding blank passout and closed again by their springs. The screw-blank passes around aquarter-turn of the clamps, more or less, to reach the cutter, passingunder a stationary curved guard-plate, s, (shown by red lines in theiigures,) which forces the head of the screw-blank down to the exactgage from the face of the dies before it is held fast in them, whichoccurs when the head of the blank is brought opposite the nicking-toolor cutter. The cutter is of ordinary construction for nickingscrew-blanks, and is affixed on mandrel 7c, which is revolved by a beltfrom the driving power ruiming onto pulley m. The cutter is supported ina vibrating frame, l, having its` center of motion on a shaft, n, and itis vibrated by a cam on the cam-shaft, which is driven by gearing fromthe cutter-mandrel k, a spur-wheel, n', gearing into a pinion, m', onsaid mandrel. The shaft a has a worm on one end gearing into a wheel, o,on a shaft at right angles to n, bearing ou its other end bevelgear o',connecting it with the cam-shaft g, by the revolution of which thevarious cam-motions are made.

The vibrating frame lis made to adjust sidewise, so as to set thenicking-cutter exactly to nick the screw-blank properly, by means of theset-nuts t placed on each side of its bearings, which are made to slidefor that purpose.

The operation of this machine is as follows: rlhe screw-blanks havingbeen fed to the directing-tube b by any device, they are drivenaccurately and with certainty into the dies in the revolving clamp bymeans of the directingforceps p and piston d, and are thence conveyedand properly gaged and presented opposite the nicking-cutter on mandrel7c, which is in rapid revolution. The frame Zthen carries the tool up tothe Work and the nick is cut, after which the blank passes on until theclamps open far enough to deliver it therefrom. As there are asuccession of the dies around the clamps to receive the screw-blanks, enew one is brought opposite the cutter at each movement of the clamp.

Having thus fully described my improvements in screw machinery fornickiug the screwblanks, what I cla-im therein, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the piston-rod d and directing-forceps 19,employed with the feeding,` apparatus, as described, for feeding thescrewblanks to the griping-dies, as specified.

DUSTIN F. MELLEN.

XVitnesses:

J. J. GREENoUG-H, S. E. CLARKE.

